Love the spider pic! And I’ve always been biased towards seahorses, they were my elementary school mascot. As a fellow Chicagoan, maybe you’re familiar with the Avery Coonley School, in Downer’s Grove? Our mascot was the seahorse because of the way they move–“onward and upward”.

In my completely subjective opinion, I think the photos of the family felines are the best, and of those, I most love those of the unquestionably louche and very flexible Zeus. What a terribly handsome fellow he is! And doesn’t he just know it, too – that is one feline who knows he’s Da Bomb, and is proud to show it off. Just like a pair of tuxedo cats who permit me to cohabit with them in their home, in fact; must be something about that coloration that inclines the wearer to that kind of catitude.

Please pass on a chin-scratch to all the felines and an ear-rub for Daisy from me, with my thanks for letting us squee on them all.

I’m beginning to think the winner of the caption contest is becoming the stuff of a running joke. Whenever there’s a photo of members of the Scalzi Pet Corps (SPC) someone will ask about it. In years, the original meaning will have been lost and certain commentators will still be asking about it to the confusion of people new to the site. FAQs will be written about it. “I won the Scalzi caption contest” T-shirts will be printed. Songs about it sung on YouTube. References to it will be snuck into the stories and books of the Friends of Scalzi (FoS). The cool kids, in on the joke, will smile wryly when someone asks what it’s a reference to. Our host will deny it ever was a thing and that he doesn’t understand how these things get started. It will be a considerable waste of time, but that’s what the internet is for.

I really like the seahorses. Something about them just cracks me up; their little tails wrapped like that.

As for Zeus, I wonder if he’s pulling a Calvin (who always made terrible faces on picture day in Calvin & Hobbes). If so, he’s not terribly successful, since he’s still adorable.

Sooz, Beej, Robin, and other fellow arachnophobes: this isn’t a perfect solution, but if you block the spider image with an adblocker, it at least won’t come back. I blocked it the first time it appeared on Whatever, so I don’t see it this time.

Folks that are interested in making your sites more accessible: setting the alt text on images is helpful both to folks with screenreaders and to those of us with phobias, because we can then set up filters that’ll screen out images that’ll cause us harm. It can be annoying to get into the habit, but it’s a big help if you can spare the time.

@Annalee, thanks for the tip. I once posted spiders for Halloween and scared some of my readers used to photos of castles and such.

I’m the odd arachnophobic who doesn’t mind looking at spider pics or even watching the eight legged monsters behind glass, but when I find one in my flat I’ll go for the space suit and flame thrower. :-)

@gabrielcampbell- I don’t know that I’m arachnophobic, I’m just scared of them. I don’t think it’s a full-fledged phobia. And I’m fine with them as long as A) they don’t touch me and B) I can’t see their mouth parts. Those freak me the heck out.

Which as a long-time Zelda fangirl has given me the worst split reaction to the new Zelda Wii U trailer ever. On the one hand, GORGEOUS graphics, amazing art style… on the other HYPERREALISTIC ARMOGHOMA!

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